After a gloomy, gray, cold and damp two week stint in Columbus, Ohio, I am finally going to be winging my way westward later today. Unfortunately, I won't be quite making it all the way back to Nevada, as I have a weekend of pain awaiting me in Denver, and will make it all the way home on Monday afternoon. Speaking of Carson City, it was recently ranked as the number one American city to have not recovered, Reno/Sparks followed at second worst. Of course local officials dispute the claim. Another interesting read is about the top 10 large metropolitan areas in the world that haven't recovered.In my opinion, statistics are like a lamp post to a drunk: theoretically to be used for illumination but more often for support. Or they can be likened to a bikini on a hot woman, revealing, but still hiding that which is critical.I find it interesting that the news article, though the mentioning the site by name (247wallst.com), doesn't actually link to the report.

So, we are now in the middle of January in the Sierra. Typically, there would be a lot of snow on the ground. Last year at this time, the Tahoe Basin was at 192% of average annual precipitation. This year, you ask? We are sitting at a whopping 7%, with no viable chance for precipitation until next week sometime. It seems that the forecast seems to show snow, but as it approaches it becomes virtual virga and never shows up. That's been the pattern for the last month.I did a quick check on accuweather.com to see just how much precipitation has fallen. The answer: not much. In the last 7 months there has been only one precipitation event: a 2" snowfall with 0.20" water on November 4, 2011. To find the next previous incident of measurable precipitation, I had to go back to June 4-6, 2011, where over the three days, we received 2.44" of rain.As a runner and outdoors kind of guy, I like being able to access the trails that are typically under meters of snow this time of year. However, my enthusiasm is tempered by knowing unless we get some serious snowfall, the summer fire season is going to get really ugly and be a spring, summer, fall and winter fire season. Also, if we are to get back to average snowfalls, it means a cold, and wet spring. Ugh. I am starting to wonder if the changes we are experiencing will become the new norm? Last year, we received a lot of snow in December from a couple of serious storms, then a very dry and warm January and February, followed by a cold, wet spring. This year appears to be following a similar pattern, though without the storms that pummeled the area in Dec 2010. Only time and more data will tell.On a different note, I am off to Columbus, OH for the next couple of weeks. Off to the land of cold, gray and flat. I'll miss the hill running, though I will try to get the miles in, regardless. I need to keep up on the goals!But before I go, I am participating in my first race (Centennial Slug It Out 10k) in almost 2 years. I am not considering it a race though; it's just a run with a lot of people who happen to be wearing numbers. If I think of it as a race, and I don't do as well as I want (which has never happened), I'll go all dysthymic and make the airplane ride the next day worse. So, it's just a run... It's just a run... It's just a run.